McLaren embarrassed by Mexican marijuana flag on merchandise stand

McLaren was left embarrassed after a Mexican flag featuring a marijuana leaf was flown from a merchandise stand selling its products at the US Grand Prix.

The official clothing and merchandise stand, similar to those at all the races on the calendar, had the offending flag flying from the top of it. With a high proportion of Mexican fans at the circuit supporting McLaren driver Sergio Perez it was quickly noticed and then removed when the team found out.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh stressed that the team does not run the stands and that it had acted to remove it as soon as it was made aware.

"Firstly, it was a regrettable incident and embarrassing for us," he said. "The flag wasn't an official McLaren product, as you might imagine. It [the stand] was [run by] a third party subcontractor of an agent, so it was some distance from us. Nonetheless a mistake was made.

"It caused some embarrassment and we withdrew the product from the stands. We don't run those stands, but we nonetheless went out there and did so."